Power boss offers up plan to make clubs more equal

Jon Pierik

Introducing The Age's new fantasy AFL game, Ultimate Footy. A draft-based competition, you can customise your league to suit your needs. Ultimate Footy gives you more say as to how your league is run. Fantasy footy has evolved. Head to www.ultimatefooty.com.au to get started.

PORT Adelaide president David Koch says action must be taken to ensure the AFL does not become a three-speed competition.

Koch will submit a response to the AFL in the lead-up to the March 20 meeting of club presidents, chief executives and the league at Etihad Stadium, detailing what he feels needs to be done to ensure all 18 clubs are financially strong.

He said there needed to be a focus on equalisation measures for clubs that were overlooked for the prime Friday night timeslot and did not have blockbusters - both of which attract lucrative gate receipts and sponsorship dollars. The Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Greater Western Sydney, Gold Coast and the Power will not appear on Friday night coverage this season.

Koch does not support a ''luxury tax'', which would involve teams paying a percentage of money into a centralised pool should they exceed non-player football spending.

''The TPP [total player payments] keeps the cap on players' salaries. Now the push is for support structures to get the most out of the players and keep them on the field the longest,'' Koch said.

Advertisement

''It's all about sports science, it's all about medical, it's all about coaching, it's all about going to high-altitude training - we go to Mount Lofty [in South Australia] where the rest of them go to Arizona.

''Our view is that you can't stymie innovation between the clubs. Luxury taxes and all that - you run the risk of stymieing innovation.

''But there has to be equalisation to compensate the poorer clubs for not getting Friday night games, not getting blockbusters, which make a huge difference to your bottom line, not only in terms of your gate but in terms of attraction of sponsorship.

''There has to be a simple procedure. All clubs agree that we have got to have 18 viable teams and a competition that is exciting and not three speed - poor, middle ground and glamour, rich teams.

''They [AFL] have asked for suggestions, we've put a paper to them, a simple way of evening up without stymieing innovation. It can be as simple as - we all pay a per-attendee fee to the AFL. It can be looking at that, and saying: 'Let's have a different scale for different clubs'.''

The only tax on club-sourced revenues is the $2 gate levy per adult attendee. A new system could have big clubs pay more into the pool and small clubs get more of a handout.

In its document to clubs, the AFL points out that major leagues in the US share a larger pool of funds from local revenue pools.

What's been called football's ''arms race'' has allowed the likes of Collingwood, West Coast, Hawthorn and Geelong to spend far more on football departments than struggling clubs. The Power will spend $17.2 million this season, to be 14th in spending. By comparison, Collingwood spent $21.167 million in 2012, an increase of $1.75 million on 2011.

North Melbourne in 1999 was the last team to win a flag while having been in the bottom four of football department spending.

The AFL's equalisation measures have meant Port, which lost $2.1 million last year, will receive $7.2 million from the club future fund between 2012 and 2016.

Koch recognised that the Power must improve on the field and play attractive football to deserve a more profitable fixture. ''We've got to be in a position to get Friday night games. Now quite rightly, the television companies choose the blockbusters. They pay big dollars for the sport, they have every right," he said.

''It's very easy to say we don't get any blockbusters. It's much harder to say we have to get that much better to earn blockbusters, too.''